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STORYLINES VS. CAROLINA
The Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes face-off on Sunday night in their final meeting this season. Nashville has posted wins in six of its last eight games against the Canes, and has points in eight of 10 dating back to Dec. 3, 2003 (6-2-(0)-2 record). Nashville is 11-5-(1)-1 in 17 all-time matchups against Carolina, and holds the 4-3-(1)-1 advantage at PNC Arena.

These teams met just a month ago in the Music City, as Jeff Skinner’s first career hat trick proved to be the difference in a 5-2 Canes win at Bridgestone Arena. Mike Fisher and Viktor Stalberg scored for Nashville.

In their last meeting at PNC Arena on Feb. 28, 2012, the Hurricanes escaped with a 4-3 win. Gabriel Bourque, who was in the midst of his first-career point streak (1g-3a-4pts, three games) posted the first multi-point game of his career (1g-1a), while Craig Smith and Colin Wilson added goals for Nashville.

Mike Fisher has 25 points (13g-12a) in 35 career games against the Hurricanes… Gabriel Bourque (1g-1a-2pts, 3gp) is performing at nearly a point-per-game pace against the Canes, while Ryan Ellis has two points (1g-1a) in two games against Carolina… Matt Cullen played 266 games in two different stints for the Hurricanes from 2005-06 and 2007-10, posting 181 points (72g-109a). Cullen won the 2006 Stanley Cup as a member of the Hurricanes, after posting a career-high 49 points (25g-24a) in 78 regular-season games, and adding 18 points (4g-14a) en route to the Cup. As a member of the opposition, Cullen has 11 points (3g-8a) in 24 career games against Carolina.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS VS. CAROLINA
Mike Fisher posted his most recent three-assist game on Jan. 7, 2012.
Ryan Ellis scored his first career goal on Jan. 7, 2012 (Justin Peters).

FISHER FINISHES
Mike Fisher posted a goal on Saturday night in Florida, as he continues to have the hot hand for the Preds, posting nine points (4g-5a) in his last four games.

• It is the most point-heavy streak of Fisher’s career since Jan. 22-29, 2008, when he posted seven points (2g-5a) in three games.
• His goal against the Panthers moved him into second on the team (11), just one behind Craig Smith.
• The Peterborough, Ont., native leads all Preds forwards in ice time (19:00) – more than two minutes higher than the next closest forward (David Legwand, 16:35).
• He also leads club forwards in blocked shots (35) and ranks third in hits (70).

THE CAPTAIN STAYS SOLID
Shea Weber has posted back-to-back multiple-point games, after notching two assists in Florida on Saturday night. The effort – Weber’s 58th career multi-point outing – gives Nashville’s captain 14 points (3g-11a) in his last 13 games to tie for the team lead (10g-16a) and rank among the League’s Top 15 in defensive scoring.

• Nashville’s captain is tied with Erik Karlsson (OTT) and Torey Krug (BOS) for the League’s defensive goal-scoring lead (10). Half of Weber’s 10 goals have come in the first period. The Preds are 7-1-2 when their captain finds the back of the net.
• The Sicamous, B.C., native’s 14 power-play points (7g-7a) are good for fifth among League defensemen (tie), while his seven power-play goals pace all blueliners.
• Weber is averaging nearly 30 minutes over his last five games. Nashville’s captain is fourth in the NHL in average time on ice this season (26:51) and has played past the half-hour mark on five occasions.
• Weber leads the team and ranks 10th in the League in blocked shots (91), in addition to tying Eric Nystrom for the team in hits (93).
• Weber's next assist with be the 200th of his career, and will move him into fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list.

PLAYER QUICK HITS
• With his game-tying goal with 48 seconds remaining against the Panthers, Paul Gaustad moved to within one of the 200th point of his career. He has two points (1g-1a) in his last three outings, and six (3g-3a) in his last 12. The Portland, Ore., native has also won 408-of-683 face-offs (59.7 percent), to rank second the League to in the category (minimum 600 draws).
• Patric Hornqvist extended his career-long assists streak to four games (5a) with a helper on Gaustad’s game-tying goal in Florida. Hornqvist has six points (1g-5a) in his last seven games, and ranks fourth on the team (8g-15a-23pts). The Sollentuna, Sweden native is now one goal shy of moving into a tie for seventh on the club’s all-time goal-scoring list. Nashville is 7-1-0 when he scores a goal.
• Seth Jones has five points (1g-4a) in his last four games to move into a tie for 13th among first-year players in points (4g-12a-16pts). The Plano, Texas native ranks second in time on ice (21:00), fourth in blocked shots (60), sixth in power-play points (6), and eighth in even-strength assists and power-play goals (2) among rookies.
• Roman Josi has eight points (3g-5a) in his last 13 games. The Bern, Switzerland native has led the team in ice time in six of the last 12 games to rank second on the team and eighth among the League defensemen in the category (25:46).
• With an assist on Saturday night, David Legwand is now tied for the team points lead with 26 (6g-20a) in 42 games. Sixteen (5g-11a) of Legwand’s 26 points have come away from the Music City.
• With eight points (6g-2a) in his last eight games, and 16 points (9g-7a) in his last 20 outings, Craig Smith has moved into first in goals and third in team scoring (12g-12a-24pts). The Madison, Wis., native owns three of Nashville’s seven two-goal performances this season. Three of Smith’s last eight goals have come on the power play. Nashville is 6-2-1 when Smith scores.
• Colin Wilson has six points (2g-4a) in his last five games as he continues to climb the Preds point-scoring leaderboard (7g-14a-21pts). With his game winner on Monday night against Detroit, Wilson now has five points (2g-3a) on game-winning goals this season.

TEAM QUICK HITS
• Eight of Nashville’s 18 wins this season have come by one goal – the team is 8-0-6 in one-goal games.
• The Predators are 15-1-4 when they score first (.750), and are 14-0-1 when leading after the first period (.933, third in the League).
• Nashville’s road penalty kill ranks among the League’s best (sixth; 86.2 percent).
• The Preds have not allowed a shorthanded goal since March 21, 2013, when Calgary scored two shorthanded goals – a span of 55 games. Nashville is the only team in the League not to have allowed a shorthanded goal this season.
• Nashville leads the League in team face-off win percentage this season (54.2 percent). The Preds have been better than 50 percent in the face-off circle in 34 of their 42 games.

POWER PLAY PROWESS
Ten of Nashville’s last 30 goals have come on the man advantage, including power-play tallies in eight of the team’s last 11 games. The Preds power play remains one of the League’s most potent (seventh, 20.4 percent), while Nashville’s home power play ranks among the League’s Top Five (fourth, 24.2 percent) after posting a man-advantage goal in seven consecutive games at Bridgestone Arena (nine for 26). The Preds are now 15-3-2 when they score a power-play goal. Shea Weber leads the team with 14 points (7g-7a) on the man advantage this season.

BACK-TO-BACKS
The Preds finish up the sixth of 14 sets of back-to-backs in 2013-14 on Sunday night against Carolina, after losing in a shootout last night in Florida. Nashville’s 14 sets of two-games-in-two-nights are five more than a season ago; the Preds are 2-3-1 in the opening game and 3-2-0 on the back end of back-to-back tilts this season. The Preds will play one game at home and one on the road (or vice versa) seven times in 2013-14, they’ll play two road games in two days six times and on one occasion they will hit the Bridgestone Arena ice on back-to-back days.

LAST TIME OUT: Nashville 4, Florida 5 (SO) at BB&T Center
• Paul Gaustad’s extra-attacker goal with 48 second remaining was the first time Predators scored with an extra attacker since March 19 at Columbus (Mike Fisher).
• The Preds required extra time for the second consecutive game. The shootout was Nashville’s fourth of the season. David Legwand picked up the Preds only goal in the post-overtime tiebreaker.
• Nashville put a season-high 42 shots on goal, including 16 shots in the third period. The previous high-water mark this season was 41 shots against Winnipeg on Nov. 8. It was the first time the Preds have put at least 42 shots on goal since March 20, 2012 vs. Edmonton (44).
• Seventeen of Nashville’s 18 skaters put at least one shot on goal, led by Mike Fisher, Patric Hornqvist and Roman Josi – four shots each.
• Nick Spaling recorded an assist on Craig Smith’s first-period goal. He has four points (2g-2a) in his last seven games. Nashville is now 39-10-5 all-time when Spaling records a point.
• The Preds won the face-off battle (56-44), led by Matt Cullen (67 percent) and David Legwand (60 percent).
• Patric Hornqvist recorded a game-high nine hits on the night as Nashville dished out 36 hits.